In South Florida, climate change means higher seas, stronger storms and hotter summers. That could make the region unlivable within a couple hundred years. But scientists say if the world takes steps like reducing carbon emissions, we could buy ourselves some time.

Click here to listen to the conversation between WUSF's Steve Newborn and Amy Sherman of PolitiFact Florida

The claims are flying fast and furious around the proposed replacement for the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. A version proposed by Republicans in the House of Representatives would replace it with the American Health Care Act.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson just left an Arctic Council meeting in Anchorage without saying whether the U.S. will pull out of the Paris accords. Meanwhile, climate change activists say Florida should pay attention to the council's latest report.

Marches to raise awareness about the need to address climate change and rising sea levels will be held Saturday throughout the Tampa Bay area. It's part of a worldwide effort to urge action to curb greenhouse gases.

Mangroves are quintessentially tropical and take root along the coast of the Everglades and the Keys where they are home to colorful fish and crabs. But these plants are not marooned in South Florida anymore. WFSU went searching for mangroves along the state’s Gulf Coast.

Scientists from around the globe agree that the Earth’s climate is changing. The impact of that changing climate, how fast those impacts will be felt, and what residents in a coastal state like Florida can expect are more difficult to describe.

In the next 50 years, climate change researchers say sea levels could rise by five to six inches. Those inches pose a threat not only to homes and buildings, but to the natural barriers that have protected Florida's coasts throughout human history. A combination of a warming planet and rising seas could drive more severe storm surges that wipe out barriers islands and flood coastal areas.

That's why researchers and planners in the Estero Bay region are taking steps now to build climate change resilience and adaptations into their plans, which are being shared at the Cela Tega conference series on the FGCU campus on Monday, Dec. 12.

This has been one of those weeks in South Florida when there’s a lot of water in the streets, even when the sun’s out. It’s a King Tide week. Business people, scientists and local officials got together in a Fort Lauderdale conference room with the water rising outside the building to talk about the problem.

Climate change isn’t just an environmental problem. If you ask Michael McGeehin, climate change is a health crisis.

McGeehin is an epidemiologist who spent more than 30 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He developed the CDC’s Climate Change Program.

McGeehin was recently in Miami for an international epidemiology conference. And he spoke with Health News Florida about how public health is threatened by changing rain patterns, sea level rise and heat waves:

Allen Tilley, retired professor of the University of North Florida, believes government leaders aren’t doing enough long-term planning to prepare for the damages sea level rising can cause across the nation, but especially here in North Florida.

On a recent afternoon, Scott McKenzie watched torrential rains and a murky tide swallow the street outside his dog-grooming salon. Within minutes, much of this stretch of chic South Beach was flooded ankle-deep in a fetid mix of rain and sea.

"Welcome to the new Venice," McKenzie

joked as salt water surged from the sewers.

There are few places in the nation more vulnerable to rising sea levels than low-lying South Florida, a tourist and retirement mecca built on drained swampland.

Even though a repeal on the red-light camera law passed in committee 10-8, the closeness of the vote shows the bill may not last long, the Bradenton Herald reports. While some lawmakers say the cameras are just money-makers, others lawmakers and interest groups insist they save lives.